An invitation only alpha beta test is under way for Blizzard Entertainment's Heroes of the Storm. The upcoming multiplayer online battle arena title is planned as a free-to-play game and will feature heroes from the WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises.

Powerful warriors from Azeroth, Sanctuary, the Koprulu sector, and beyond have been sucked into the Nexus, a transdimensional storm. Stranded in a strange limbo of clashing universes, these heroes have but one fate—endless battle for glory, survival, and just plain fun.

Contend with unique challenges in every battle. Unlock the legendary secrets of each battleground to maximize chances of a glorious victory. Ghostly pirate ships, the fickle Raven Lord, and massive grave golems can be just as deadly as the opposing team. Adjust your strategy accordingly to the battleground, or face crushing defeat.

Good players win. The great ones make it look good, too. Distinguish yourself in battle with dozens of unique heroes, skins, and mounts. Then customize your hero’s talents and choose from among multiple heroic abilities, enabling you to dish out ruin in the form of orbital bombardments, strafing frost wyrms, or all-consuming hellfire.

Elliot Quest from Ansimuz Games is available now for purchase and download at Mac Game Store. The Kickstarter funded adventure/RPG hybrid was inspired by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and gives players the chance to explore the mysterious Urele island in search of an ancient demon.

Elliot Quest is an adventure/RPG where players explore the mysterious Urele island in search of an ancient demon. With 5 dungeons to conquer, 18 bosses to defeat, and countless treasures to discover.

Features:

An expansive island to explore with over 16 unique bosses

Customize your character with an engaging Level Up System

Chain attacks to make enemies drop more items

Experiment with different magic attacks to defeat Elliot’s enemies

Solve puzzles to find hidden crystals and access secret areas

Hunt powerful monsters to find powerful weapons

3 unique endings based on your decisions

Original Music by Michael Chait - listen at https://soundcloud.com/michael-chait-music/sets/elliot-quest

In recent Twitter posts Maxis and Electronic Arts revealed that Update 10 for SimCity, which will offer an offline mode for the first time, is now in final testing. Once the patch is released the latest incarnation of the popular city building sim will offer players the chance to enjoy the game without the need for a constant internet connection.

Yes, Offline is coming as a free download with Update 10 to all SimCity players. When we launch it, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without the need for an internet connection. We are in the late phases of wrapping up its development and while we want to get it into your hands as soon as possible, our priority is to make sure that it’s as polished as possible before we release it. So, until then… testing, testing and more testing. As one of the final steps, we’re putting Offline into the hands of some of our most hardcore players, the DevTesters. This group of volunteers is going to put Offline through its paces before we release it.

In Update 10, you can still play solo in Regions on your own, or in Multiplayer with people from around the world. What’s new is the Single Player Mode, which allows you to play the game Offline by yourself. And because your saved games in this mode are stored locally, you can save and load to your heart’s content. Our team will be delivering a follow-up blog that will outline the full details in the near future so stay tuned.

So what does this mean for the Online game? All of the benefits of being connected will remain including access to Multiplayer, the Global Market and Leaderboards. And all of your pre-existing saved cities and regions will still be accessible should you log-in to the Online game.

Bringing the game Offline means big things for our wonderful community of Modders. They can now make modifications to the game and its components without compromising the integrity of the Online game. Modding is a big part of our studio’s legacy and we’re excited to see what you guys create.

In a new Bethesda Blog The Elder Scrolls Online Game Director Matt Firor shared an update about the game’s launch and what’s planned for the future. The MMO adaptation of Bethesda's popular Elder Scrolls universe is scheduled for an April 4 release.

While surveys have shown that players really enjoy the game as they progress, particularly after level 10, we heard from some of you that the beginning of the game left you feeling too constrained. The game was originally designed that way so that new players were not overwhelmed, and could learn the game before dealing with more challenging situations. But because ESO is about choice, we made adjustments to those opening hours of the game in response to the beta feedback. After exiting the modified, more streamlined tutorial in Coldharbour, new characters now wake up in the first major city of their respective Alliance as opposed to being forced to go through the starter islands. We’re adjusting the level curve around those cities so that you’ll have plenty to do and discover without running into enemies that are too powerful at the start. If you want to go back and experience these islands (which have been re-leveled to provide a regular content experience) the option is there, but players who prefer can just start exploring the rest of Tamriel.

Another piece of your feedback we’ve implemented addresses our combat system. We continue to identify ways to make melee combat feel even more substantial. In addition to many tweaks and changes to animations and audio, we’ve added player collision with NPCs, which means your character will no longer be able to run through NPC enemies. This is a frequently requested feature that we think succeeds in making melee combat more visceral and exciting.